Pravin Godkhindi

Guru and Early Tutelage

Born in a family of musicians, music is divine blessing to Pravin. He is fortunate to have his father Pandit Venkatesh Godkhindi, an eminent vocalist and Bansuri artiste of the country, as his first and only Guru for Flute.

Pravin started toying with a small flute at the tender age of 3 and since then it has been his best companion. His passion for Flute could hardly be matched with anything else even during his childhood. With such a passion blended with grueling early hours of rigorous Riyaz under the able guidance of his guru, Pravin started exhibiting the glimpses of a genius in the making.

Pravin gave his first public concert at the age of 6, and held the audience spellbound. His quest for deeper knowledge about Layakaari brought him to his Guru, Vidwan Anoor Ananth Krishna Sharma, a reputed Mridangam artiste, who is providing able guidance to Pravin on the deeper aspects of Laya and Layakaari.

Two Different Styles of Playing

His father has taught him Bansuri in Kirana Gharaana Gayaki style. But Pravin added the Gatkaari, or Tantrakaari style, by his own efforts and succeeded in it. He is adept in both the styles. Sonorous blowing, control over breath, elaborations of Raga with its aesthetic appeal, extraordinary and skillful rendition of Layakaari are but a few salient features of his flute recital. He has been ably balancing between traditional and creative music. Western classical, Jazz and Carnatic classical also have favorably influenced him.

Titles and Awards

At the age of 16, Pravin performed at the Kal Ke Kalakar Sammelan at Mumbai and was awarded the title of “Suramani” by the Sur Singar Samsad.

Pravin stood first in the All India Radio music competition in 1991, at the age of 18 years, for which he was automatically, graded “B” for Akashavani and Doordarshan.

He later on went to become one of the few young artistes of the country to have been graded “A” at the age of 21 years. An achievement indeed!

In 2003, he was awarded the title of Naad-Nidhi by Kalachetana, Gadag.

Recently, in 2005 he has been awarded the Aryabhatta, for his composition of the title song of the tele-serial Malebillu.

Beru, a Kannada film, got the prestigious national award for 2005 in the best regional language category, for which Pravin scored the music.

A fact, which may serve as a role model for young aspirants, is that Pravin never neglected his academics. A front ranker from the beginning, he is proud to have passed engineering BE (Electrical & Electronics) in first class with distinction.

Concerts

He has been featured on some of the most prestigious music conferences and Sangeet Sammelans of the country. Noteworthy among them are:

Sawai Gandharva Festival, Kundgol

Salt Lake City Festival, Calcutta

Kal Ke Kalaakar Sammelan, Mumbai

Tatanagar Sangeet Sammelan, Tatanagar

Panchakshar Gawai Punyatithi Sammelan at Gadag, Bangalore and Bhopal

Rehamat Khan Punyatithi Samaroh, Dharwad

Sawai Gandharva Festival , Poona

Sankat Mochan Festival, Varanasi

Bhatkhande Sangeet Samaroh, Mumbai

Pravin has toured the USA, Canada, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Muscat, Qatar, Holland, and Portugal for his solo and fusion performances.

Multifaceted Artiste

Pravin is a gifted artiste with many talents. He is a composer, vocalist, actor, Tabla artiste, and a harmonium player apart from what he is best at -the Bansuri.

He has provided some lilting melodies to the world of Sugama Sangeet through his compositions of well-known poets like Da Ra Bendre, Kuvempu, Narsimha Swami, M.N. Vyasa Rao etc.

Some of his popular compositions include the title songs of the Tele serials Garva, Aaghaata, Malebillu, Preeti Illada Mele and Mane Ondu Mooru Baagilu, for which he has composed the music and lent his voice as well.

He has also composed music for Kathak, Bharatanatyam and Contemporary dance dramas which have been immensely appreciated throughout the world.

He is a regular performer with Dr S.P. Balasubrahmanyam for ‘Ede Tumbi Haduvenu’ in ETV Kannada, which has made him a household name.

Recently he has started Sanjog Bansuri Mahavidyalaya - A school where he and his father will teach Bansuri, Vocal & Tabla to interested students in an effort to encourage the cult of classical musicians.

As a Fusion Artiste

Pravin has formed a fusion band called Krishna, which has all the three forms of Music: Hindustani, Carnatic, and Western Music. The band is very popular in the concert circuit because of its uniqueness in content and presentations.

Pravin has independently worked with great contemporary fusion maestros like the great jazz pianist Louis Banks and the all time great drummer and percussionist Shivamani.

He has also performed with the esteemed Jazz band “Silk”, involving Shankar Mahadevan, Shivamani & Louis Banks.

Recently he has performed with a Dutch rock-band named BLOF in Delhi. The performance was extremely well received by the audience and also covered by NDTV.The same band invited Pravin to perform along with them in Holland in December and the concert was indeed a memorable one for more than 10,000 music lovers.